WeTried Translations

Translator: ZEROSUGAR

Editor: Abstract

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Regression is Too Much

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Chapter 251

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The regressor gets lost (5)

The King of the Maze followed me without resistance.

"...Hmm."

He ran his hand along a vine-covered wall and sighed.

"..."

He stared at a dead spider split in half and let out a silent lament.
He looked exactly like a man carrying a long story, but I figured that even if I asked, he would not answer, so I did not ask.

How long did the King of the Maze's short stroll through the maze go on like that?

"All right. We're here."

At last, I stopped in front of the Black Space.

"Try going in here."

"..."

The King of the Maze clearly already knew about this Black Space.
He frowned deeply and looked back at me.
He did not say anything, but his expression looked like it was asking, Are you insane?

"...How did you find this place?"

"Well, I have my ways. So, are you not going in?"

"I cannot."

The King of the Maze shook his head.
A bead of sweat slid down the middle-aged man's pale forehead.

"The King of the Maze... cannot leave Floor 25. It is 'set' that way."

"Then this is not Floor 25?"

"...Similar, but different. I cannot explain it."

"Hmm."

So he really could not enter the Black Space.

"What if I force you in? Could you die then?"

"...You're insane."

"I cannot think of anything else... I'm sorry."

It felt awful to use my imagination for killing someone, but I had no choice if I wanted to get out of Floor 25.
This was the only method I could think of right now.

"Uh, then I'll try it?"

"..."

The King of the Maze closed his eyes and clenched his teeth.
I moved behind him and shoved him toward the Black Space.

-Chiiiiiiik!!!

White smoke rose from his entire body, and his tightly shut mouth finally opened wide...!!

"Kraaaagh!!!"

The King of the Maze screamed in pain.
This was the first time I had ever seen him yell this loudly.

"I-I think something's happening, but I'll keep pushing!"

"Kraaaagh!"

The King of the Maze screamed until his throat went hoarse.
I felt incredibly sorry too, but he said his goal was to die, he always said he wanted to die, I had to kill him to clear this floor anyway, and this was the only visible method right now... I had no other choice.

"S-sorry!"

"Kuhk, krrgh..."

One minute. Two minutes. Ten minutes.

By the time my mana was nearly dry and the King of the Maze was only making faint air-leaking sounds...

"Uh, uh...?"

His body, slumped against the boundary of the Black Space with drool hanging from his mouth, started twitching little by little.

Thinking I had done something right, I quickly laid him on the ground, and the King of the Maze kept jerking on the floor.

"Krrgh, krrrgh..."

That handsome middle-aged face gradually shriveled.
He got shorter, his back bent, his skin turned rough, and his nose warped grotesquely...

"...A goblin?"

It looked like he had stopped somewhere between a goblin and a human.

"...Give me, give me the sword."

Even while groaning on the floor, the King of the Maze asked me for my sword.
He did not seem to have any intention of harming me, so I handed it over.

"...Seems it failed. Was there not enough time."

The King of the Maze looked at his own reflection in the smooth blade and drove it deep into his throat.
Then he let out a hollow chuckle.
He did not die.

"W-what just happened?"

"By the Tower's power... my immortality thinned. So what was meant to happen happened. Like with the others."

"..."

He gave no detailed explanation, but I understood everything.

The goblins of Floor 25... and the goblins from the Tutorial.
They had originally been human.

Then some incident turned them into goblins, into monsters.
This King of the Maze had only been enduring it with his own power.
Now I finally understood why there had been a white goblin in the maze.
Stories where god's wrath turns humans into monsters are common in myths.

Still, if that was true, something felt off.

"...But then, did everyone become goblins? The people of this world?"

"...That curse applies only to the royal bloodline."

"...Ah."

Now it finally made sense.

Back in the Tutorial, the Goblin Shaman had said, "Humans unleashed the monsters of the maze."
But if all humans had become goblins, then who were those humans who released the maze monsters?
If everyone had turned into goblins, it would be strange, so hearing that only royals were cursed into goblins made it fit.

"..."

But the Goblin Shaman in the Tutorial... had clearly said that god gave them a chance for revenge, so they entered the Tower.
If god was the one who turned them into monsters... then the goblins were treating their own enemy as their benefactor.
It left a bitter taste.

Of course, even if goblins were originally human... all I felt was discomfort and slight disgust.
What I had to do did not change.

If a person turned into a zombie, I would not hesitate to kill the zombie.
Choi Ji-won tried to avoid killing people whenever possible, but she cut down monsters without hesitation.
If a monster had once been human... sure, there was room for debate, but I still saw it as a monster.

Then where exactly was the line for being human?
If something still had a human body, but a mind-controlling monster had devoured its personality, was it human?
Or if it was still technically human, but twisted and corrupted so badly that its character could no longer be called human at all, was that still human?
If I killed someone like that, was it murder?

"Ah."

That pointless train of thought ended when my mana ran out completely.

There was not enough time to strip away all of the King of the Maze's immortality.

In the end... this method had failed too.

[You have taken damage.]

[Returning to the moment of first entry on Floor 25.]

"..."

Once again, I stood at the starting point, lost in thought.

Even the Black Space plan, which I had seen as my last resort, failed.
Was there really no way to kill the King of the Maze?

Maybe Choi Ji-won just cleared it by running insanely fast.
Flash Step? Was it Flash Step?
Should I train that too?
It was an S-grade skill, so what would happen if I used it properly?

"King."

The King of the Maze... had resisted god.
There had been hints that he did something blasphemous.
And as a result, his bloodline was cursed into goblins.
Even that bloodline was getting slaughtered in the Tutorial.

For all I knew... he had committed something enormous.
He was suffering forever like this.

"...King."

Again, I rolled the words King of the Maze around in my head.

The goblins here were the King of the Maze's family.
Royal blood.
The King of the Maze's body was immortal.
He could not be killed.
That was why he resisted even god's curse.

But if I brought the designated items and performed the proper ritual, his immortality would disappear, and he would fall to the level of an ordinary goblin that could be killed.
That was probably the official route for clearing this floor.

But I had no way to erase the King of the Maze's immortality.
I did not have enough time for either the proper ritual or for forcefully shoving him into the Black Space.
I could not do it.

Was there truly no way?
Really?
For real?

"...King of the Maze."

But was his name actually King of the Maze?
No.
That was a title.

Maybe... this could work.

What I needed to kill was...
the King of the Maze.

"..."

The king's clouded reason awakened.
Old decorations and a red carpet.
A familiar throne.
Yes, this was the Tower.

After his world was destroyed by 'god' and merged into part of the Tower, the King of the Maze's memories remained only in fragments.
It felt like he had always been dying.
He often watched climbers die.
Sometimes nothing happened at all.

He had only one thing to do.
Watch.
Exist.
Keep breathing.

A life whose purpose was simply to exist was hell.
Endless time gave him more than enough room to chew on despair, and even if a climber succeeded and gave him a brief death... when he came to, he was alive again.

This was the punishment given to an immortal king.
To remain alive.
Even after every royal had turned into mindless vermin, even after the world was destroyed, even after he himself had become a tool... he had to stay alive to the very end.
He had to drag on that wretched life in defeat.
To him, this was the worst punishment.

He had wanted to die hundreds of times over.
He had regretted pointing a dagger at god more times than he could count.
It was already too late.
What had happened had happened.

"..."

So he stared at the closed wooden door.
Would a climber reach this point this time?
It was only the faintest curiosity.

The King of the Maze had no interest in climbers.

Whether they climbed to the top and escaped ruin, or met a miserable death on the way, or got absorbed into part of the Tower, none of that was his concern.

Like always, he would remain here forever, blankly waiting for death, then waking again.

Even if climbers asked questions, even sharp questions that pierced the truth at times, the King of the Maze did not care.
If it was something he could say, he said it.
If not, he stayed silent.

Again, he had absolutely no interest in climbers.

"Hey."

"..."

"This white goblin used to be human, right? Royal blood, right?"

"..."

He did not ask how the climber knew.
Certainty and madness flashed in the man's eyes.

"That goblin is family. Sure, the kingdom fell, but family does not just disappear. So here's what I'm saying."

The King of the Maze had no interest in climbers at all.

Until today.

"So hand the throne over to this white goblin. Right now."

Until a complete lunatic showed up.

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